Kings sweep way to semis

MANILA, Philippines — Its sweep bid under heavy threat, Barangay Ginebra forced Meralco to a power interruption in the fourth quarter to get it done.

With Justin Brownlee starting the fire and new faces Stephen Holt and RJ Abarrientos and vets Scottie Thompson and Maverick Ahanmisi following through, the Gin Kings rallied from 12 down to finish off the Bolts, 113-106, and march to the PBA Governors’ Cup semifinals last night at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

Later, Converge whipped up a fourth-quarter storm capped by Alec Stockton’s winning jumper to stop San Miguel Beer from advancing to the Final Four, 114-112.

The FiberXers averted a shutout by wiping out the Beermen’s 21-point tear with a 48-25 turnaround in the payoff period to make it a 2-1 series. As Ginebra sits safely in the semis, SMB and Converge will continue their dispute for the other ticket in Game 4 on Friday.

The Gin Kings trailed at 78-66 in the third and even entered the last 11 minutes of Game 3 with an 85-77 deficit. But in typical never-say-die fashion, Brownlee and Co. fought their way back and delivered the kill shot with a 39-25 closing bombardment.

Brownlee hit a pair of crackling four-point shots to trigger Ginebra’s decisive assault. Rookie Abarrientos, pre-season trade acquisition Holt, ace guard Thompson and sniper Ahanmisi took turns making big shots and grabbing rebounds to bring this W home and complete the 3-0 conquest of the Bolts.

“I’m totally shocked that we were able to beat them in three straight games,” said Ginebra coach Tim Cone, whose crew got into sweep position with pulsating 99-92 and 104-103 victories in the first two games of the race-to-three.

It was sweet revenge for Cone after Meralco booted them out in last season’s Philippine Cup with a Game 7 beating in the semis.

“They tore us apart in Game 7 so it’s been a long time coming to come back and have a chance to make up for that, especially for our fans,” he said.

Brownlee posted 23 points, three rebounds and four assists – low by his standard – but Holt (19), Japeth Aguilar (19-8), Abarrientos (17), Ahanmisi (17) and Thompson (16-7) more than covered the rest.

Notes: The PBA technical committee has admitted its mistake during the wild endgame of Game 3 of the Rain or Shine-Magnolia series Sunday and even penalized the referee who missed a goal-tending violation call. Deputy commissioner Eric Castro said trail referee Rey Yante has been suspended for the rest of the conference for failing to make the call on Jhonard Clarito’s basket interference on Zav Lucero’s layup with 13.5 seconds left in OT. Upon review in the next dead ball, the technical committee ruled it a goal-tending, which tied the game at 106-106, but not after Magnolia fouled Gian Mamuyac to stop the clock, leading to a split that restored the lead for ROS… Castro also admitted after review there should have been 0.8 second left in an out-of-bounds situation in the last play of regulation…Castro also explained that Magnolia mentor Chito Victolero wasn’t slapped a technical for entering the court to complain considering he did it during a dead ball and didn’t use profane language which automatically merits a T.